Conventional processors for preparation of for example a printing plate include such ones of which the system is such that an exposed material to be processed is soaked in a developer received in a relatively shallow developer tank and also such ones according to the system of which the developer is sprayed by means of a spray tube or tubes.
With the former processors (that is, developer-tank system processors), it is feasible to render sufficiently wetted the emulsion surface of for example a material printing plate to be treated, but a difficulty is encountered such that uneveness is likely to be generated if the developer fails to be sufficiently agitated in the developer tank. Then, with the latter (spray-tube system processors), although the problem of generation of uneveness, namely uneven effect of development, can be effectively obviated inasmuch as the developer is spray-applied, it on the other hand is unavoidable to provide a number of spray pipes or tubes in the processor in order to effect a sufficient application of the developer onto the emulsion surface and thereby have the surface sufficiently wetted, and a difficulty in this case is therefore that the processor has to be relatively large in size as a whole and can hardly be made compact.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved processor for printing plates or the like which is smaller in size and more compact than conventional comparable machines and with which the problem of generation of uneveness had with existing machines is effectively eliminated.
It also is an object of the invention to provide a processor for printing plates or the like which is easier to operate than conventional processors.